Now, the H-Bowl is in just 1 week.  A lot of other blogs have looked at the matchup between Cal and A+M from a football sense.  Or even maybe a school sense.  But they have all done it from the Cal perspective.  We here at The California Golden Blogs want to give our readers something a bit different, the A+M perspective.  But instead of in any way contacting A+M fans or going to Texas A+M, we are just going to make it all up. 

In a run up to the game all this week, we will be giving a whole bunch of reasons why A+M is better than Cal.  Yes, you read that right, better than Cal.  But don’t worry, we haven’t abandoned our Bay Area roots.  We are just doing it all ironically.  Deliciously so!  

So, in reality, our attempts to praise A+M will, in fact, be a slight tweaking of what I can only assume is a nose as red as their necks.  

But let’s look at our first reason why Texas A+M is better everywhere except for the football field (hopefully).  And that reason is, of course, elder abuse.  While it’s true that Gregory Peck once tried to coldcock Lady Bird Johnson, I don’t think Cal has any alums who are quite as good at beating up old ladies as noted Texas A+Mer Chuck Knoblauch.  Certainly, Keith Olbermann agrees.  And if you brow is as furrowed right now as a Texas A+Mer’s generally is, then read this article about when Chuck hit Mrs. Olbermann square in the noggin with a well-timed barrage of baseballs.

So, there you go, when it comes to alumni who physically injure the elderly, it’s A+M 1, Cal 0.  Tune in all this week to see further reasons why A+M is better than Cal.  Ironically, of course. 

Jay Heater of the Oakland Tribune has written some nice updates regarding the the Student High Performance Center that is scheduled to begin construction this March.  In his blog he revealed that much of the design was done with input from Tedford, the student-athletes and other coaches.  Perhaps JT has been spending his nights in his office with an architect and not just watching video?  Also, it seems clear that despite repeated internet musings from around the country that Tedford is "in the running" for the Alabama job (I know, I know, it makes zero sense for both parties), Sandy Barbour and the rest of the athletic department have kept Tedford right in the middle of things with the stadium upgrades.  This is important in keeping him around, since he will rightly be able to say that he not only turned the Bears into winners, but he moved the program from the 1970’s (or 1930’s) into the new millenium in terms of facilities.

Here are some further details from Jay Heater’s article in the Oakland tribune:

"The $125 million, 142,000-square-foot building, to be constructed along the west wall of Memorial Stadium, will bring Cal up to date with other powerhouse football programs around the country. The center’s roof will serve as a 68,000-square-foot plaza that will be open to ticketed fans on game days and give Cal extra concession opportunities."

Also, Tedford apparently is confident that construction WILL begin in March, despite impending lawsuits from the Panoramic Hill Association of Berkeley (must’ve been formed last month), the California Live Oak Foundation of Oakland (you didn’t know oaks are a hugely influential PAC in Sacramento?) and the city of Berkeley. And there are rumors of Stanfurd alums putting together their trust funds to tie up UC in court for decades and prevent all stadium upgrades.  These rumors are, of course, unconfirmed.

Note: Apparently Brandon Jackson, one of the top RB recruits from Oregon who orally committed to Cal a few months ago, will no longer be a Bear.  He lost his scholarship offer due to an "incident" (we don’t know what that incident was).  It remains to be seen if this is a big deal or not, but with 5 RB’s on scholarship coming into the 2007 season, it probably won’t be much of a factor.